BLUE HERON. 
15S 
leans, the Blue Herons, during the transition of their plumage from white 
to blue, are called “ Egrettes folles,” or foolish Egrets, on account of their 
unusual tameness. My friend Bachman and I, shot, on the 6th and 9th of 
April, several specimens spotted with blue feathers, and having their crests 
and trains similarly mixed, although of full length ; but in most of the 
specimens obtained, the white was still prevalent. I have shot some in 
Louisiana, in autumn, in the same curious dress. 
This species, though larger than the Snowy Heron, Ardea candidissima , 
is considerably inferior to it in courage ; and I was much amused as well as 
surprised, when at Galveston Bay, on the 24th of April, 1837, to see one of 
that species alight near a Purple Heron, attack it, and pursue it as far as I 
could follow them with my eyes. When the Blue Herons are on the sea- 
coast they not unfrequently repose on the large mud or sand bars, at some 
distance from the adjacent marshes ; but they generally prefer roosting on 
trees or bushes, when there are any in their neighbourhood. The Creoles 
of Louisiana not unfrequently cat the flesh of this species, and although 
they by no means consider it equal to that of the Night Heron, some of 
them have assured me that it is not bad food. Like other birds of this 
family, they become larger with age, and the male is usually somewhat 
superior in size to the female ; but, with this exception, no difference can 
be perceived in the external appearance of the sexes. 
Blue Heron, Ardea ccerulea , Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 117. 
Ardea ccerulea, Bonap. Syn., p. 300. 
Blue Heron, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 58. 
Blue Heron, Ardea ccerulea , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 58. 
Male, 244, 42. 
Resident in Florida and Texas, where it breeds. In spring migrates as 
far as Long Island ; up the Mississippi to a hundred miles above Natchez. 
Never seen far inland. 
Adult Male in full plumage. 
Bill much longer than the head, rather slender, very slightly decurved, 
compressed, tapering to a point. Upper mandible with the dorsal line 
nearly straight for two-thirds of its length, then slightly decurved, the ridge 
convex, broad at the base, gradually narrowed to the point ; a groove from 
the base to near the end, the sides convex beneath, the edges thin and sharp, 
with a slight notch close to the tips. Nostrils basal, linear, longitudinal, 
with a membrane above and behind. Lower mandible with the angle 
extremely narrow and elongated, the dorsal line beyond it ascending and 
almost straight, the sides sloping outwards, and flattened, the edges sharp 
and slightly inflected, the tip acuminate. 
Vol. YI. 21 
